1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for monitoring blood pressure of a living body based on pulse wave.
2. Related Art Statement
There is known the art of determining blood pressure based on pulse wave, i.e., pressure oscillation produced from an arterial vessel synchronously with heartbeat of a subject. The art consists of pressing a body portion of a subject with, for example, an inflatable cuff, detecting pressure oscillation transmitted to the cuff synchronously with heartbeat of the subject, and determining blood pressure based on variation in magnitude of the pressure oscillation, the magnitude variation of the pressure oscillation corresponding to magnitude variation of the pulse wave.
However, if the above-indicated blood pressure measuring method is applied to, for example, a patient who has just undergone a surgical operation and therefore must be monitored regarding blood pressure for a comparatively long time, the body portion of the patient on which the inflatable cuff is set is continuously pressed with a comparatively high pressing force of the cuff. Consequently the patient suffers from uncomfortable feeling and even congestion